News & Events (Calendar)

April 2015

March 2015

Public lecture on "Food Fight: Your Immune System vs Diseased Cells presented by Professor David Finlay.
This lecture will discuss the idea that nutrients are an important commodity that can affect the balance between our immune systems and various diseases, and how new therapies could be devised to shift the balance towards immune destruction of diseased cells.

Date: Wednesday 18th March
Time: 6:30pm
Venue: Stanley Quek Theatre, Trinity Biomedical Sciences Institute, 152-160 Pearse Street, Dublin 2
All welcome and admission is free
Details of the other lectures in the series are available here further information please contact Nóirín: nicabhan@tcd.ie

February 2015

Public lecture on inflammation. “Natural Killers against cancer: harnessing the immune system for cancer therapy” presented by Dr Clair Gardiner.
Our immune systems have various ways to eliminate cancer cells. These include white blood cells, called Natural Killer cells that can directly kill cancer cells as they arise. Understanding this has allowed us to develop therapies around NK cells as an anti-cancer treatment. However, cancer cells can hide from the immune system and stop it from doing its job. We are discovering how this happens and based on this, we can design better cancer treatments that harness the immune system in the fight against cancer.

Date: Wednesday 18th February
Time: 6:30pm
Venue: Stanley Quek Theatre, Trinity Biomedical Sciences Institute, 152-160 Pearse Street, Dublin 2
All welcome and admission is free
Details of the other lectures in the series are available here further information please contact Nóirín: nicabhan@tcd.ie

December 2014

November 2014

DCCR Network Annual Scientific Meeting 2014 with presentations from principal investigators and researchers active within the Dublin Centre for Clinical Research. It will be held in the Tercentenary Hall, TBSI, Trinity College, 152 – 160 Pearse St, Dublin 2 on Wednesday 26 November from 3:00 – 6:30 pm with a reception to follow. Keynote Speaker: Professor Hilary Chapman, University of Sheffield NHS Foundation Trust. All welcome. To register email info@molecularmedicineireland.ie - registration is free.
Full details on website Molecular Medicine Ireland

Public lecture 'Zombies, clones and replacement body parts' presented by Dr Vincent Kelly
Date: Wednesday 19th November
Time: 6:30pm
Venue: Stanley Quek Theatre, Trinity Biomedical Sciences Institute, Pearse Street
All welcome and admission is free
Details of the other lectures in the series are available on the School’s website

October 2014

Public lecture on inflammation. ‘Inflammation....too much of a good thing’ presented by Dr Emma Creagh
Date: Wednesday 22nd October
Time: 6:30pm
Venue: Stanley Quek Theatre, Trinity Biomedical Sciences Institute, Pearse Street
All welcome and admission is free
Details of the other lectures in the series are available on the School’s website

July 2014

First joint yearly conference of the Trinity Biomedical Sciences Institute and the Weizmann Institute of Science will be held in Dublin in July 27-29. Seven keynote speakers, including five Nobel Laureates (James Watson, Aaron Ciechanover, Bruce Beutler, Ada Yonath and Jules Hoffmann) and many colleagues in TBSI will be presenting. The speakers will present cutting edge progress in the study of mechanisms of inflammation and cancer in the two institutes and the applications of such advances to new ways of therapy.
Registration is free.
Register for the Conference Keynote speakers Programme

June 2014

May 2014

Metabolism and Immunity: A Rediscovered Frontier 2014. Organizers Luke O’Neill and Abcam. Keynote speaker: Richard Flavell: British Biochemist and
Sterling Professor of Immunobiology, at Yale School of Medicine. He is an investigator at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.
Poster Overview Programme

November 2013

October 2013

TAP terrifying tales day in TBSI. 200 little vampires descend on Trinity. Hosted by the TAP, DU Players and TBSI.

September 2013

Discover Research Night, held on 27th
September 2013
The event was part of an EU initiative held
Concurrently in 300 cities across Europe.
Members of the public were welcomed to TBSI and heard researchers describe
their research and its relevance for
human health. Prizes awarded for best posters to Jennifer Lennon , and best presentations to Ashley Bray and Alette Brinth

9th International Conference HOMOCYSTEINE AND ONE-CARBON METABOLISM details registerabout
The symposium is dedicated to the memory of Professor John Scott from Trinity College Dublin Professor Scott pioneered research in this country into folate biochemistry and its relevance to human health and disease, in particular in relation to neural tube defects, such as spina bifida.

Trinity College Dublin welcomes Governor Deval Patrick of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, in conversation with students. (View Details)

Opsona Therapeutics, a Trinity College campus biotechnology company focused on novel therapeutic and preventative approaches to autoimmune and inflammatory diseases announced the completion of an €33m financing. Opsona Therapeutics was founded in 2004 by three of Trinity College Dublin’s immunologists: Professor of Biochemistry, Luke O’Neill and Professor of Experimental Immunology, Kingston Mills – both at the School of Biochemistry and Immunology along with former Professor of Medicine, Dermot Kelleher. Opsona's research lab is located in TBSI. 'Opsona is delighted to announce this round of funding which is among the top 5 rounds internationally in the past 12 months' said Luke O'Neill cofounder and chief scientist. about Opsona )

Researchers in the School of Biochemistry and Immunology, TBSI, secured €3.8 million funding for a prestigious Marie Curie PhD training network project, ‘Training in neurodegeneration, therapeutics intervention and neurorepair’ (TINTIN) read more

The last lecture in the School of Biochemistry and Immunology’s public lecture series, Biomedical Frontiers, takes place on May 1st entitled “It’s in the blood: Sleeping Sickness the Scourge of a Continent”. The lecture will be given by Dr Derek Nolan from the School of Biochemistry and Immunology. Dr Nolan has spent 30 years studying the molecular and cell biology of trypanosomes. He will describe how basic research on trypanosomes has led to a deeper understanding of why they are such deadly parasites and how this work may ultimately lead to safe, effective treatment of this global health problem.
Stanley Quek Theatre, School of Biochemistry & Immunology, Trinity Biomedical Sciences Institute
All welcome and admission is free
(Public Lecture on Wednesday 1st May 2013 at 18.30pm - poster)

April 2013

On April 30th, TBSI had the honour of hosting a visit from Dr James Watson, just 60 years since the ground-breaking paper on the structure of DNA was published in Nature on April 25th, 1953. An informal meeting with over 50 key Trinity cancer researchers took place read more

Dr. James Watson spoke to the TBSI Postdoc Society about his career, what motivated him and inspired him to become a scientist. Congratulations to postdoc Dr. Alette Brinth who was presented with a signed copy of the book "Double Helix" by the author Dr. Watson. "Postdocs should travel, talk, and think big" (Blog from Naturejobs - Claire O’Connell, contributor)
read blog

Read about what's happening in Ireland's premier Biomedical Sciences research laboratories
full booklet

16th April: 2nd Irish NMR Meeting
This event consists of an update on NMR technology and the launch of our 800MHz NMR facility. Please see the attached. Along with highly- respected speakers such as Göran Karlsson, Christina Redfield, and Phil Williamson, all of the NMR-related PIs in Ireland and Northern Ireland will give short summaries of their current research to serve as a sampler of Irish NMR activities/capabilities.
This event will mark the official launch of our 800MHz NMR facility. The 800MHz NMR installed in TBSI is equipped with multiple probes including an exceptional cold probe. It is one of a handful of such units available in Europe and gives options for analytical investigation in Ireland which were hitherto impossible.
(NMR facility opening) (2nd Irish NMR Meeting Programme )

February 2013

Professor Luke O’Neill is delighted to announce a visit to TBSI this Friday 15th February by the distinguished Professor Stephen O’Rahilly, of the University of Cambridge. The talk is entitled "Human Metabolic Disease: Lessons from Genetics".
Professor O’Rahilly is Professor of Clinical Biochemistry and Medicine, and Director of the Metabolic Research Laboratories in the Institute of Metabolic Science. His current research focus includes
Molecular and Pathophysiological Mechanisms in Obesity and Mechanisms of Human Insulin Resistance. About Professor O'Rahilly

January 2013

December 2012

Dr. Rachel McLoughlin, Dr. Nigel Stevenson and Prof Cliona O’Farrelly and Dr. James Harris, otherwise known as the “Immunewars Team” were recently awarded a bursary by the Royal Dublin Society to develop an interactive “Science Live” lecture. Their demonstration lecture entitled “Immune Wars:Bugs&Beyond” aims to introduce primary school children to the concept of bacteria and how our immune system defends against infection. The Immune Wars Team rolled out their interactive lecture to a total of 86 primary school children in the RDS on November 8th and took their lecture on the road and visiting two primary schools in December.
(view here)

The fourth lecture in the series titled ‘Hepatitis C virus- deadly, dangerous or docile?’ will be given by Professor Cliona O'Farrelly on Wednesday, 12 December. Professor O’Farrelly will be discussing Hepatitis C (HCV) and will explore how viral infections, in particular HCV, can have many different outcomes in different people. Understanding how and why some people resist viral infection could lead to exciting new therapies and vaccines.
Event Details:
Time: 6.30pm
Venue: Stanley Quek Theatre, Trinity Biomedical Sciences Institute, Pearse Street
All welcome and admission is free

Prof Chas Bountra is Chief Scientist at the Structural Genomics Consortum and Professor of Translational Medicine at the University of Oxford. His current research is aimed at determining the 3D X ray structures of novel proteins, generating novel small molecule inhibitors, using these to dissect disease networks and hence identifying new targets for drug discovery. The SGC publishes all findings immediately (> one per week), works closely with >100 academic labs across the world and 6 pharmaceutical companies, and shares all reagents and expertise freely.

November 2012

As part of its mission to promote the molecular life sciences on the island of Ireland, the Irish Area Section of the Biochemical Society awards a medal for sustained excellence in the field of biochemistry demonstrated by work carried out on the island. The 2012 medal was presented to Prof. Luke O’Neill. (IAS Award)